Resource agencies could hit ball out of “Kilarc Park.”
 By Frank Galusha If the regulatory agencies, including the Department of Fish & Game, will step up to the plate there’s a possibility the fish that want to migrate up Cow Creek and its tributaries, particularly Old Cow Creek and South Cow Creek, might get a little help. Trout, steelhead and salmon fisheries could be enhanced by the hydropower companies who want to take over the power generation plants on those two tributaries. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is currently deciding who gets the right to operate the existing facilities. With just a little nudge from the resource agencies, we could also see a win for fish and the people.
For decades, those plants, known collectively as “Kilarc-Cow Creek” were operated by PG&E; yet during that period when our anadromous fish populations were under nearly constant stress, little was done to improve habitat there.
Bob Baiocchi, president of California Fish and Water Unlimited, a non-profit fish advocacy corporation asks, “Why has FERC allowed PG&E to operate there without mitigation? Why wasn’t PG&E, as required by law, forced to get "take" permits from NOAA (National Marine Fisheries Service, also known as NMFS)? The answer is everyone got to dither while the fish populations dropped,” Baiocchi says
Eight years ago, when the price of power was lower, PG&E began to throw in the towel. They decided not to seek a renewal of their license. PG&E felt the plants would not be economically viable if the resource agencies, backed by the ESA, were to insist on putting more water into the creeks. They did.
That left little room for compromise. PG&E has surrendered its license. Next to leave could be the power plants and the diversion dams. Kilarc Reservoir would be gone, too, along with the green hydropower being generated.
But times have changed. Power rates are now much higher and two more streamlined operators, Evergreen Shasta Power and Davis Hydro both say they can operate the plants at a profit and use part of the proceeds to enhance fish habitat. Unfortunately, the latest filings by the resource agencies show they are still opposed.
Davis Hydro wants to operate only the Kilarc plant and proposes to raise trout in the bypass above the reservoir, admittedly an experiment. They label this concept as their Steelhead Plan. The idea is to herd the small fish into the Old Cow above the Kilarc powerhouse and allow them to drift downstream. Some might swim to the ocean and return years later as steelhead, perhaps straying to any or all of the Central Valley’s rivers and streams to spawn, or come back to their birthplace in the Old Cow.
This concept has been ridiculed by the agencies even though Davis Hydro is also willing to use power generation revenues to enhance habitat anywhere else on the two tributaries. It is also opposed by Sierra Pacific Industries. SPI does not want anadromous fish upstream of the Kilarc Powerhouse as that could seriously affect their property rights and timber harvesting plans.
The Evergreen Shasta proposal offered to improve salmon habitat, too, on the South Cow. That, too, was pooh-poohed by the agencies as insignificant. They just want the water put back to where it was over 100 years ago. That stance may be about to change.
Let’s put it this way: Destroying a popular fishing hole, tearing down green hydropower plants, demolishing one diversion dam and erecting a new one to satisfying existing water rights downstream is not an easily defended position, especially when the cost (estimated at $14 to $20 million) will be borne by ratepayers. Add in the fact that on-going revenues from power generation could be ear-marked for fish enhancement and the resource agencies start to look like stuck on stupid.
What will FERC decide? Aye, that is the question. The plot thickened recently when a DH filing suggested FERC might not have jurisdiction. That is very unlikely. DH will lose that fight, according to Baiocchi.
Meanwhile, ESP’s settlement offer is possibly looking more and more reasonable to the agencies and PG&E. ESP is offering to provide greater in-stream flows for the fish as well as payments to the County for recreation maintenance at Kilarc and retention of Kilarc Reservoir for recreation and fire fighting. ESP says it is also willing to set up a $5 million, 25-year fund for habitat restoration, which would be overseen by the Western Shasta County Resource Conservation District.
Davis Hydro’s Dick Ely says he thinks the County and the RCD would cooperate with his company, too. “I just want to help the resource and the community. As for the agencies, I want to do research as a scientist and engineer to see if there is anything we can do to help the fish. So far we’ve not had much cooperation. This is not how we save these fish.”
Ely says it will dedicate one-third of its profits to fish enhancement, which could amount to a significant sum for the fish. Both firms have suggested the monies generated could be used to obtain matching grant funds for habitat restoration, or just about anything that would help the fish as well as maintaining Kilarc Reservoir for the fishing public.
The DH alternative involves creating a Community Trust to oversee a community-oriented fish enhancement project. The Trust would be composed of community members, two fish agency reps, one neighboring large land owner group, one or two fish advocacy/recreation groups and advisors, including fish biologists, ranchers and Davis Hydro scientists.
ESP is a Limited Liability Corporation that includes SPI. ESP has the backing of Shasta County. SPI owns the land surrounding Kilarc Reservoir and the Tetrick Ranch, owned by Steve Tetrick, who heads up ESP, owns the land surrounding the South Cow power plant. That puts ESP in a commanding position, but Ely says he’s confident the County will work with Davis Hydro, too, as well as the RCD and the agencies, if FERC decides in their favor.
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